Home » Publications

Publications

Discover how PEPperPRINT Peptide Microarray products have been used in different fields of research.

Integrated reiterative pipeline for rapid epitope-based pan-alphavirus vaccines

Versiani, Alice F.; McCaffrey, Peter; Ribeiro-Filho, Helder V.; Silva, Natalia I. O.; Lopes-de-Oliveira, Paulo S.; Carrera, Jean-Paul; Nogueira, Mauricio L.; Marques, Rafael E.; Rossi, Shannan L.; Vasilakis, Nikos
Sci Adv.
Mar 2026
10.1126/sciadv.aeb2066
The vast diversity of the virosphere underscores the need for rapid, adaptable vaccine development infrastructures. Arthropod-borne zoonotic alphaviruses, in particular, continue to pose substantial threats to human and animal health. We present a fast, multitarget vaccine design pipeline integrating machine learning-based epitope prediction, protein modeling, and docking to prioritize viral peptides by immunogenicity, allele coverage, solubility, and stability. T cell epitopes were validated using peptide microarrays and molecular dynamics simulations, confirming receptor binding accuracy. Flow cytometry of murine and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells demonstrated robust T cell activation and cytokine secretion (IFN-γ, TNF-α, or IL-2), dependent on species and HLA allele. Final candidates were selected by composite immunogenicity scores. While this study primarily validates the T cell-specific arm of our predictive pipeline, complementary B cell epitope analyses are ongoing. Our findings support the development of broadly protective pan-alphaviral vaccines and the establishment of efficient, tunable processes for global vaccine development.

Spot peptide arrays and SPR measurements: throughput and quantification in antibody selectivity studies: Peptide Arrays for Antibody Selectivity Studies

Vernet, Thierry; Choulier, Laurence; Nominé, Yves; Bellard, Laure; Baltzinger, Mireille; Travé, Gilles; Altschuh, Danièle
J. Mol. Recognit..
Oct 2015
Antibody selectivity represents a major issue in the development of efficient immuno-therapeutics and detection assays. Its description requires a comparison of the affinities of the antibody for a significant number of antigen variants. In the case of peptide antigens, this task can now be addressed to a significant level of details owing to improvements in spot peptide array technologies. They allow the high-throughput mutational analysis of peptides with, depending on assay design, an evaluation of binding stabilities. Here, we examine the cross-reactive capacity of an antibody fragment using the PEPperCHIP® technology platform (PEPperPRINT GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany; >8800 peptides per microarray) combined with the surface plasmon resonance characterization (Biacore® technology; GE-Healthcare Biacore, Uppsala, Sweden) of a subset of interactions. ScFv1F4 recognizes the N-terminal end of oncoprotein E6 of human papilloma virus 16. The spot permutation analysis (i.e. each position substituted by all amino acids except cysteine) of the wild type decapeptide (sequence 6TAMFQDPQER15) and of 15 variants thereof defined the optimal epitope and provided a ranking for variant recognition. The SPR affinity measurements mostly validated the ranking of complex stabilities deduced from array data and defined the sensitivity of spot fluorescence intensities, bringing further insight into the conditions for cross-reactivity. Our data demonstrate the importance of throughput and quantification in the assessment of antibody selectivity.

General Approach for Tetramer-Based Identification of Autoantigen-Reactive B Cells: Characterization of La- and snRNP-Reactive B Cells in Autoimmune BXD2 Mice

Hamilton, Jennie A.; Li, Jun; Wu, Qi; Yang, PingAr; Luo, Bao; Li, Hao; Bradley, John E.; Taylor, Justin J.; Randall, Troy D.; Mountz, John D.; Hsu, Hui-Chen
J.I..
May 2015
Autoreactive B cells are associated with the development of several autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. The low frequency of these cells represents a major barrier to their analysis. Ag tetramers prepared from linear epitopes represent a promising strategy for the identification of small subsets of Ag-reactive immune cells. This is challenging given the requirement for identification and validation of linear epitopes and the complexity of autoantibody responses, including the broad spectrum of autoantibody specificities and the contribution of isotype to pathogenicity. Therefore, we tested a two-tiered peptide microarray approach, coupled with epitope mapping of known autoantigens, to identify and characterize autoepitopes using the BXD2 autoimmune mouse model. Microarray results were verified through comparison with established age-associated profiles of autoantigen specificities and autoantibody class switching in BXD2 and control (C57BL/6) mice and high-throughput ELISA and ELISPOT analyses of synthetic peptides. Tetramers were prepared from two linear peptides derived from two RNA-binding proteins (RBPs): lupus La and 70-kDa U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein. Flow cytometric analysis of tetramer-reactive B cell subsets revealed a significantly higher frequency and greater numbers of RBP-reactive marginal zone precursor, transitional T3, and PDL-2+CD80+ memory B cells, with significantly elevated CD69 and CD86 observed in RBP+ marginal zone precursor B cells in the spleens of BXD2 mice compared with C57BL/6 mice, suggesting a regulatory defect. This study establishes a feasible strategy for the characterization of autoantigen-specific B cell subsets in different models of autoimmunity and, potentially, in humans.

Quote form